November 20, 2007

So my sister turned me onto this new website called www.findagrave.com Um yeah I was thinking the same thing! WEIRD! The concept of this site is to be able to look up peoples graves and see pictures of them. Keep in mind the grave sites that are pictured are totally random and have no special rhyme or reason to having a picture taken of them. Anyone can go to this site join and submit or request pictures be taken.

I honestly do not understand why someone would want to look at pictures of their dead ancestors. Are there pictures of the funerals as well? Just seems very odd to me but my sister is totally into it and is thinking about going out and taking pictures of random sites to post.

So I figures while I was checking out the site i might as well look around a bit and see what i could see. I typed in a very popular family name and area in Va and what do I find? Not a picture of a grave sit e but an actual obituary of a family member that died. JACKPOT! Now this was worth coming to see! I was able to get the parents information siblings and children. After documenting all of this information I was able to connect the deceased to my grandmother. He was the same age as her and was considered a 2nd cousin. My grandmother knew nothing about this part of the family. I thought is was cool to be able to connect another part of the family.

I posted the obit here in case anyone else might be looking for this person or a missing link in their family tree as well. I have to say I plan on visiting the grave site website a lot more in the future. Who knows you might find useful information there also.

Morgan O. Blythe COURTLANDMorgan Oliver Blythe, 74, died Sept. 10, 2005, at the East Pavilion. A native of Southampton County, he was a son of the late Emmitt McKinley and Florence Lankford Blythe. He was a member of Sedley Baptist Church and a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant during the Korean conflict. Morgan was retired from Hercules, former owner of the Sedley Market, former dispatcher for the Southampton County Sheriff’s Department and was retired from the Virginia Department of Corrections. He was a charter member of the Franklin Kiwanis Club and a member of Franklin Masonic Lodge No. 151, AF&AM and a former Shriner. Survivors include his wife, Muriel Begnoche Blythe; two daughters, Robin May (Ken) of Newsoms and Marti Blythe (Michael Clark) of Franklin; three sons, Ken Blythe (Lindy) of Tampa, Fla., Kyle Blythe (Lisa) of Staunton, Va., and Chris Blythe (Karen) of Louisville, Ky.; one sister, Daisy Johnson of Suffolk; one brother, Ashby Blythe of Franklin; seven grandchildren, Ryan Gibbs, Christa Malcolm, Brandon, Jeddy, Jessica, Evan, Brooke and Claire Blythe; and one great-grandchild, "Pop Pop’s" buddy, Corbin Gibbs. Mr. Blythe was predeceased by three brothers, Otis, Thurman and Sherman Blythe. A funeral with Masonic rites will be conducted Wednesday at 11 a.m. in the chapel of Wright Funeral Home with the Rev. Clyde Alderman officiating. Burial, with military honors, will follow in Southampton Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home and immediately following the service at 1521 Clay St. Because of Morgan’s love of children, the family suggests memorials be made to The Children’s Center, 700 Campbell Ave., Franklin, VA 23851.